Background

Prior to the introduction of air brakes, stopping a train was a difficult business. In the early days when trains consisted of one or two cars and speeds were low, the engineer (driver) could stop the train by reversing the steam flow to the cylinders, causing the locomotive to act as a brake. However, as trains got longer, heavier and faster, and started to operate in mountainous regions, it became necessary to fit each car with brakes, as the locomotive was no longer capable of bringing the train to a halt in a reasonable distance.

The introduction of brakes to railcars necessitated the employment of additional crew members called brakemen, whose job it was to move from car to car and apply or release the brakes when signaled to do so by the engineer with a series of whistle blasts. Occasionally, whistle signals were not heard, incorrectly given or incorrectly interpreted, and derailments or collisions would occur because trains were not stopped in time.

Brakes were manually applied and released by turning a large brake wheel located at one end of each car. The brake wheel pulled on the car's brake rigging and clamped the brake shoes against the wheels. As considerable force was required to overcome the friction in the brake rigging, the brakeman used a stout piece of wood called a "club" to assist him in turning the brake wheel.

The job of a passenger trainbrakeman wasn't too difficult, as he was not exposed to the weather and could conveniently move from car to car through the vestibules, which is where the brake wheel was (and still is, in many cases) located. In addition, passenger trains were not as heavy or lengthy as their freight counterparts, which eased the task of operating the brakes.

A brakeman's job on a freight train was a far different matter. He was exposed to the elements and had many more cars on which the brakes had to be operated. To set the brakes on a boxcar the brakeman would have to climb to the roof ("coon the buggy" in railroad slang) and walk a narrow catwalk to get to the brake wheel—while the car was swaying and pitching under his feet. Other than the brake wheel itself, there wasn't anything the brakeman could readily grasp to steady himself as he performed his duties. Setting the brakes on the next car required that he cross the gap between the cars—by jumping in some cases. Needless to say, a freight brakeman's job was extremely dangerous, and many were maimed or killed due to falling from moving trains.

Complicating matters, the manually operated brakes had limited effectiveness and controlling a train's speed in mountainous terrain was a dicey affair. Occasionally, the brakemen simply could not set enough brakes to a degree where they were able to reduce speed while descending a grade, which usually resulted in a runaway—followed by a disastrous wreck.

When adopted, the Westinghouse system had a major effect on railroad safety. Reliable braking was assured, reducing the frequent accidents that plagued the industry. Brakemen were no longer required to risk life and limb to stop a train, and with the engineer now in control of the brakes, misunderstood whistle signals were eliminated. As a result, longer and heavier trains could be safely run at higher speeds.

During his lifetime, Westinghouse made many improvements to his invention. The United States Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act in 1893 making the use of some automatic brake system mandatory. By 1905, over 2,000,000 freight, passenger, mail, baggage and express railroad cars and 89,000 locomotives in the United States were equipped with the Westinghouse Automatic Brake.

Overview

In the air brake's simplest form, called the straight air system, compressed air pushes on a piston in a cylinder. The piston is connected through mechanical linkage to brake shoes that can rub on the train wheels, using the resulting friction to slow the train. The mechanical linkage can become quite elaborate, as it evenly distributes force from one pressurized air cylinder to 8 or 12 wheels.

The pressurized air comes from an air compressor in the locomotive and is sent from car to car by a train line made up of pipes beneath each car and hoses between cars. The principal problem with the straight air braking system is that any separation between hoses and pipes causes loss of air pressure and hence the loss of the force applying the brakes. This deficiency could easily cause a runaway train. Straight air brakes are still used on locomotives, although as a dual circuit system, usually with each bogie (truck) having its own circuit.

In order to design a system without the shortcomings of the straight air system, Westinghouse invented a system wherein each piece of railroad rolling stock was equipped with an air reservoir and a triple valve, also known as a control valve.

The triple valve is often described as being so named because it performs three functions. This is a widespread myth, as the triple valve simply performs two functions: it applies the brakes and releases them. In so doing, it supports certain other actions (i.e. it 'holds' or maintains the application and it permits the exhaust of brake cylinder pressure and the rechargeing of the reservoir during the release). In his patent application, Westinghouse refers to his 'triple-valve device' because of the three component valvular parts comprising it: the diaphragm-operated poppet valve feeding reservoir air to the brake cylinder, the reservoir charging valve, and the brake cylinder release valve. When he soon improved the device by removing the poppet valve action, these three components became the piston valve, the slide valve, and the graduating valve.

If the pressure in the train line is lower than that of the reservoir, the brake cylinder exhaust portal is closed and air from the car's reservoir is fed into the brake cylinder to apply the brakes. This action continues until equilibrium between the brake pipe pressure and reservoir pressure is achieved. At that point, the airflow from the reservoir to the brake cylinder is lapped off and the cylinder is maintained at a constant pressure.

If the pressure in the train line is higher than that of the reservoir, the triple valve connects the train line to the reservoir feed, causing the air pressure in the reservoir to increase. The triple valve also causes the brake cylinder to be exhausted to atmosphere, releasing the brakes.

As the pressure in the train line and that of the reservoir equalize, the triple valve closes, causing the air pressure in the reservoir and brake cylinder to be maintained at the current level.

Unlike the straight air system, the Westinghouse system uses a reduction in air pressure in the train line to apply the brakes. When the engineer (driver) applies the brake by operating the locomotive brake valve, the train line vents to atmosphere at a controlled rate, reducing the train line pressure and in turn triggering the triple valve on each car to feed air into its brake cylinder. When the engineer releases the brake, the locomotive brake valve portal to atmosphere is closed, allowing the train line to be recharged by the compressor of the locomotive. The subsequent increase of train line pressure causes the triple valves on each car to discharge the contents of the brake cylinder to atmosphere, releasing the brakes and recharging the reservoirs.

Under the Westinghouse system, therefore, brakes are applied by reducing train line pressure and released by increasing train line pressure. The Westinghouse system is thus fail safe—any failure in the train line, including a separation ("break-in-two") of the train, will cause a loss of train line pressure, causing the brakes to be applied and bringing the train to a stop.

Modern air brake systems are in effect two braking systems combined:

The service brake system, which applies and releases the brakes during normal operations, and

The emergency brake system, which applies the brakes rapidly in the event of a brake pipe failure or an emergency application by the engineer.

When the train brakes are applied during normal operations, the engineer makes a "service application" or a "service rate reduction”, which means that the train line pressure reduces at a controlled rate. It takes several seconds for the train line pressure to reduce and consequently takes several seconds for the brakes to apply throughout the train. In the event the train needs to make an emergency stop, the engineer can make an "emergency application," which immediately and rapidly vents all of the train line pressure to atmosphere, resulting in a rapid application of the train's brakes. An emergency application also results when the train line comes apart or otherwise fails, as all air will also be immediately vented to atmosphere.

In addition, an emergency application brings in an additional component of each car's air brake system: the emergency portion. The triple valve is divided into two portions: the service portion, which contains the mechanism used during brake applications made during service reductions, and the emergency portion, which senses the immediate, rapid release of train line pressure. In addition, each car's air brake reservoir is divided into two portions--the service portion and the emergency portion--and is known as the "dual-compartment reservoir”. Normal service applications transfer air pressure from the service portion to the brake cylinder, while emergency applications cause the triple valve to direct all air in both the service portion and the emergency portion of the dual-compartment reservoir to the brake cylinder, resulting in a 20-30% stronger application.

The emergency portion of each triple valve is activated by the extremely rapid rate of reduction of train line pressure. Due to the length of trains and the small diameter of the train line, the rate of reduction is high near the front of the train (in the case of an engineer-initiated emergency application) or near the break in the train line (in the case of the train line coming apart). Farther away from the source of the emergency application, the rate of reduction can be reduced to the point where triple valves will not detect the application as an emergency reduction. To prevent this, each triple valve's emergency portion contains an auxiliary vent port, which, when activated by an emergency application, also locally vents the train line's pressure directly to atmosphere. This serves to propagate the emergency application rapidly along the entire length of the train.

Passenger trains have had for a long time a 3-wire version of the Electro-pneumatic brake, which gives seven levels of braking force. In most cases the system is not fail-safe, with the wires being energized in sequence to apply the brakes, but the conventional automatic air brake is also provided to act as a fail safe, and in most cases can be used independently in the event of a failure of the EP brakes.

Later systems replace the automatic air brake with an electrical wire (in the UK, at least, known as a "round the train wire") that has to be kept energized to keep the brakes off.

More recent innovations are electronically controlled brakes where the brakes of all the wagons (cars) and locomotives are connected by a kind of local area network, which allows individual control of the brakes on each wagon, and the reporting back of performance of each wagon's brakes.

Limitations

The Westinghouse air brake system is very trustworthy, but not infallible. Recall that the car reservoirs recharge only when the brake pipe pressure is higher than the reservoir pressure, and that the car reservoir pressure will rise only to the point of equilibrium. Fully recharging the reservoirs on a long train can require considerable time (8 to 10 minutes in some cases), during which the brake pipe pressure will be lower than locomotive reservoir pressure.

If the brakes must be applied before recharging has been completed, a larger brake pipe reduction will be required in order to achieve the desired amount of braking effort, as the system is starting out at a lower point of equilibrium (lower overall pressure). If many brake pipe reductions are made in short succession ("fanning the brake" in railroad slang), a point may be reached where car reservoir pressure will be severely depleted, resulting in substantially reduced brake cylinder piston force, causing the brakes to fail. On a descending grade, the unfortunate result will be a runaway.

In the event of a loss of braking due to reservoir depletion, the engineer (driver) may be able to regain control with an emergency brake application, as the emergency portion of each car's dual-compartment reservoir should be fully charged—it is not affected by normal service reductions. The triple valves detect an emergency reduction based on the rate of brake pipe pressure reduction. Therefore, as long as a sufficient volume of air can be rapidly vented from the brake pipe, each car's triple valve will cause an emergency brake application. However, if the brake pipe pressure is too low due to an excessive number of brake applications, an emergency application will not produce a large enough volume of air flow to trip the triple valves, leaving the engineer with no means to stop the train.

To prevent a runaway due to loss of brake pressure, dynamic (rheostatic) braking can be utilized so the locomotive(s) will assist in retarding the train. Often, blended braking, the simultaneous application of dynamic and train brakes, will be used to maintain a safe speed and keep the slack stretched as the train crests a grade.

Another solution to loss of brake pressure is the two-pipe system, fitted on most modern passenger stock and many freight wagons. In addition to the traditional brake pipe, this enhancement adds the main reservoir pipe, which is continuously charged with air directly from the locomotive's main reservoir. The main reservoir is where the output of the locomotive's air compressor is stored, and is ultimately the source of compressed air for all systems that use it.

Since the main reservoir pipe is kept constantly pressurized by the locomotive, the car reservoirs can be charged independently of the brake pipe, this being accomplished via a check valve to prevent backfeeding into the pipe. This arrangement helps to reduce the above described pressure loss problems, and also reduces the time required for the brakes to release, since the brake pipe only has to recharge itself.

Main reservoir pipe pressure can also be used to supply air for auxiliary systems such as pneumatic door operators or air suspension. Nearly all passenger trains (all in the UK and USA), and many freights, now have the two-pipe system.

Accidents

The air brake can fail if one of the cocks where the pipes of each carriage are joined together is accidentally closed. In this case, the brakes on the wagons behind the closed cock will fail to respond to the driver's command. This happened in 1953 to the Federal Express, a Pennsylvania Railroad train pulling in to Washington DC's Union Station, causing the train to crash into the passenger concourse and fall through the floor.

There are a number of safeguards that are usually taken to prevent this sort of accident happening. Railroads have strict government-approved procedures for testing the air brake systems when making up trains in a yard or picking up cars en route. These generally involve connecting the air brake hoses, charging up the brake system, setting the brakes and manually inspecting the cars to ensure the brakes are applied, and then releasing the brakes and manually inspecting the cars to ensure the brakes are released. Particular attention is usually paid to the rearmost car of the train, either by manual inspection or via an automated end-of-train device, to ensure that brake pipe continuity exists throughout the entire train. When brake pipe continuity exists throughout the train, failure of the brakes to apply or release on one or more cars is an indication that the cars' triple valves are malfunctioning. Depending on the location of the air test, the repair facilities available, and regulations governing the number of inoperative brakes permitted in a train, the car may be set out for repair or taken to the next terminal where it can be repaired.

A different kind of accident nearly happened in Australia when a train with the wrong kind of brake shoe was diverted due to a derailment to an extremely steep line. The train in question had brake shoes that lost their grip when overheated, and this train was diverted to a line with a 30 km 900 m descent from Katoomba to Emu Plains. The train ran away out of control and was lucky not to have crashed.

Standardization

The modern air brake is not identical with the original airbrake as there have been slight changes in the design of the triple valve, which are not completely compatible between versions, and which must therefore be introduced in phases. That said, the basic air brakes used on railways worldwide are remarkably compatible.

Vacuum brakes

The main competitor to the air brake is the vacuum brake, which operates on negative pressure. The vacuum brake is a little simpler than the air brake, with an ejector with no moving parts on steam engines or a mechanical or electrical "exhauster" on a diesel or electric locomotive replacing the air compressor. Disconnection taps at the ends of cars are not required as the loose hoses are sucked onto a mounting block.

However, the maximum pressure is limited to atmospheric pressure, so that all the equipment has to be much larger and heavier to compensate. This disadvantage is made worse at high altitude. The vacuum brake is also considerably slower acting in both applying and releasing the brake; this requires a greater level of skill and anticipation from the driver.